Gold: Jeremy, because if this happen it will be his best skating ever. A dream come true for me(and him I suppose ). I love the way he moves to the music. Wish his focused face didn't look so grim, though.

Silver: Verner, hehe, I never give up on him

Bronze: Hanyu, it would be awesome. He seems very determined and I bet he has trained hard for this.

Probably the podium will be Chan, Gachinski and Takahashi. But that's all right. I enjoy watching these three as well.

7-10: Fernandez, Amodio , Reynolds and Majorov(so that Schultheiss is a certain for next world's).

and then there are Van der Perren, Joubert, Rippon, Kozuka, Brezina, Liebers, Ten, Song etc. So many to like

Well, if only they skate their best I am satisfied. It's so tough for them and they are trying such hard elements and performances. I fear many mistakes will be made. Men's competitions are incredibly exciting before start, but easily also disappointing when over (iike the SP at Vancouver olympics). I really, really want to see the men excel.

I love Daisuke's long program this year so much. For me, it's his best program ever: just so brilliant and intense when he skates it well. My fondest wish for the men's event is that Daisuke has the skate of his life in the long program, lands a quad, gets the PCS marks he deserves, and wins his second gold medal. As others have pointed out, his talent completely merits at least 2 World titles. Let this be his second one.

SILVER & BRONZE

I have no strong favorites other than Daisuke. I'd be happy to see any of the following guys win silver or bronze: Kozuka, Abbott, Hanyu, Rippon, Verner, Fernandez, Chan, Ten, or even Joubert. I'm less thrilled with Gachinski, Brezina, and Amodio, but if they skate well, so be it.

I do think Jeremy Abbott has amazing programs this year and is an incredibly talented skater. However, I think all the predictions of him medaling or even winning are . . . optimistic. His record at Worlds/Olympics is not good--there's a lot of bad history there for him to overcome. I think skating two good programs and placing top 5 would add up to a personal victory for him. To hope for more is not realistic in my book. (But, who knows, he may prove me wrong.)

Takahashi's bare-all heart and passion makes him my sentimental favourite here, but I must admit what I want to see most is Chan skate lights out. Because when he does, he is breathtaking and I am in love with his skating (not crazy about his Short, but his Long... ). Chan for Gold and Takahashi for Silver.

Joubert for Bronze because it's his home country and he may retire soon.

Jeremy Abbott's SP got me. It amazed me how he could do it so well on ice! I could ignore his LP of this season and look forward to seeing his new LP next season. I wish he could get on the podium just because he is better than Johnny weir and Johnny weir has had a world bronze and three US national titles.

'Pogue... I love what you want to see so much , I can hardly begin think of what I want to see. Some of your suggestions for new programs for these guys just send me off on flights of fantasy..

And I couldn't agree more with what you have to say about Dai and Patrick . I never liked the hokey storytelling in Take Five . Maybe it helped Patrick develop more outward expression..but couldn't they have done it off the ice ? But then , to have to suffer it 2 yrs. in a row has been cruel. I like Aranjuez very much , it's really the first time we've seen thoughtful exploration of the music from Patrick.

But for expressiveness , Dai has no match, currently..and he doesn't hold programs over, as a rule .. so each season is a brand new trip.

Good ice, no injuries, every one skates his best, FAIR judging, best win that day. No rep judging. And may the gold medalist stay on his feet and truly win on every element, not just his vaunted skating skills, speed, yada yada. Chan will win, no sense wishing it won't happen. He beats everyone, good skate or 3 falls. So continue to skate clean Patrick and be a worthy, undeniable 2 time champion. Just great skating for 2-10.

Jeremy Abbott's SP got me. It amazed me how he could do it so well on ice! I could ignore his LP of this season and look forward to seeing his new LP next season. I wish he could get on the podium just because he is better than Johnny weir and Johnny weir has had a world bronze and three US national titles.

Not to mention Jeremy has beaten Evan twice at the US Nationals, and before the Olympics too!

The medal podium is filled with 1st time medalists. USA, Japan, and Czech Republic all earn 3 spots for next year's Worlds. Long-time journey men Abbott and Verner finally fulfill their immense potential at the World Championships. In all honesty though, I wish all 11 of these men could be awarded gold medals; there is so much depth and talent in the men's event. What a treat it is to be a fan of this sport at this time in history!

I've always been a believer in spreading the wealth and long-time competitors finally having their moment that teaches them that all the sacrifice and adversity and hard work was all worth it for THIS moment! I so want that to happen for Jeremy and Tomas! They are too great to never have won a World medal!

There was a nice article about Jeremy in the Detroit newspaper yesterday. He gives me the impression that what he really wants to do is give artistic expression, though his skating, to what he feels in his heart and soul. He says these are his two all-time favorite programs, and he just loves practicing and performing them.

Jeremy tries to talk himself up into a competitive frame of mind, but when all is said and done I think he will be happy if he skates his programs the way he wants to skate them.